--- title: There were no waves, so I broke off the branch of a tree, and draggi… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: There were no waves, so I broke off the branch of a tree, and dragging it down to the water's edge, sat across it, while, using two sticks for oars, I rowed myself towards the ship. Who acts: waves, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, with its depen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/5/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/) / 5 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 5 There were no waves, so I broke off the branch of a tree, and dragging it down to the water's edge, sat across it, while, using two sticks for oars, I rowed myself towards the ship. **Who acts:** waves, I · **What happens:** be, break off, drag down, sit, use, row · **To what, where:** branch, edge, two sticks, myself, ship This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (waves, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg128:10:5 # text = There were no waves, so I broke off the branch of a tree, and dragging it down to the water's edge, sat across it, while, using two sticks for oars, I rowed myself towards the ship. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 4 det _ _ 4 waves wave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 6 so so ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 7 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 broke break VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 9 off off ADP RP _ 8 compound:prt _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 17 dragging drag VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 26 advcl _ _ 18 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ _ 19 down down ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 23 's 's PART POS _ 22 case _ _ 24 edge edge NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 26 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 27 across across ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 while while SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 using use VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 26 advcl _ _ 33 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 nummod _ _ 34 sticks stick NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obj _ _ 35 for for ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 oars oar NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 rowed row VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 40 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 39 obj _ _ 41 towards towards ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 ship ship NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | no waves | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **break off** | past | I | the branch of a tree | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer branch=Patient | | 3 | **drag down** | gerund | | branch | | the water's edge | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to edge=Destination | | 4 | **sit** | past | no waves *not said here* | | | edge | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **use** | gerund | no waves *not said here* | two sticks | | | | for oars | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent stick=Theme for oar=Eventuality | | 6 | **row** | past | I | myself | | the ship | | | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent myself=Theme towards ship=Trajectory | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. **Text:** «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/6/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/)